SOTHEBY'S DAY ONE: THE 3 MUSKETEERS + THE 4 AUCTIONS

SOTHEBY'S IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN EVENING SALE: DAY ONE

Kicking off Sotheby's mega-sale week with the Impressionist + Modern Evening Auction. Personal fave from this night was Pablo Picasso's "Mousquetaire" from 1967. Critics have often noted that the Musketeer was a kind of alter-ego for Picasso, reminding the aging artist of his inner vitality, adventuresome spirit, and daring nerve. The Musketeer appeared in 1966 in Picasso's paintings -- as scholar Marie-Laure Bernadac observed, "a new and final character emerged in Picasso’s iconography and dominated his last period to the point of becoming its emblem. This was the Golden Age gentleman, a half-Spanish, half-Dutch musketeer dressed in richly adorned clothing complete with ruffs, a cape, boots, and a big plumed hat … All of these musketeers are men in disguise, romantic gentlemen, virile and arrogant soldiers, vainglorious and ridiculous despite their haughtiness. Dressed, armed, and helmeted, this man is always seen in action; sometimes the musketeer even takes up a brush and becomes the painter." ((Brigitte Léal, Christine Piot and Marie-Laure Bernadac, The Ultimate Picasso, New York, 2000, p. 455).

A daring hero to lead the charge into auction week -- exactly what we needed.